Electronic equipment, especially measuring instruments, exhibit, as a rule, at least one circuit board, on which electronic components are arranged. These components must be mechanically secured on the circuit board and be electrically connected to, in or on the conductor paths, or traces, extending on the circuit board.
Especially in the case of measuring instruments, which can experience very significant mechanical loadings, e.g. continuous vibrations from machines operating at a measuring location, it is particularly important that the electrical and mechanical connection between the components and the circuit board have a high load bearing ability.
Today, it is becoming increasingly frequent that flexible circuit boards are used, which e.g. are installed rolled up inside an electrical device, especially a measuring instrument, for saving space. Even for rigid circuit boards, it is very important to assure a mechanically loadable connection between the circuit board and the components mounted thereon. This is true, naturally, even more so, in the case of flexible circuit boards, where the connections get extra loading due to the deformability of the circuit board. Both during and following the rolling up of the circuit board, a reliable mechanical and electrical, highly loadable connection must be maintained.
EP-A 1069810 discloses a circuit board on which at least one electronic component is arranged. The component has at least two electrical contacts, of which a first contact is connected with a first terminal on the circuit board by bonding with a conductive adhesive and a second with a second terminal on the circuit board by soldering.
Solder and adhesive are placed on flat, mutually spaced contact surfaces on a surface of the circuit board. Then the component with its contact surfaces is placed on the surface such that the contact surfaces of the component cover the contact surfaces of the circuit board. This procedure provides a very efficiently manufacturable connection. Particularly this kind of solder connection is, however, sensitive to peel loadings.